Make the Sparks Fly
by SunSingularity
Summary: The CSI's get a case that is uncomfortably familiar, putting Greg in the awkward position of having to revisit something he'd long ago put behind him. Now that they're short staffed, new people are thrown into the mix. How will Morgan deal with the new girl flirting with Greg? How will Greg deal with a case that's come back to haunt him? Will have some romance thrown in!
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is my first CSI fic, so… take that for what it's worth. This is set after Season 15, Episode 18, keeping in mind that the series finale TV movie hasn't aired yet. Which means for the sake of the story, I will keep with what the show has done so far. If you haven't seen episode 18 of Season 15, and you don't want to be spoiled, then don't read the rest of this note!**

 **Finn is still in a coma, Nick left to run the crime lab in San Diego, Catherine is at Quantico with the FBI, Grissom is somewhere in Peru (and divorced from Sara) and Sara, Greg and Morgan are the highest ranking CSI's on the graveyard shift. Keep in mind that I also had to make some people up for the sake of creativity. Now… on with the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character of Amanda Bennet and the plot, heavily borrowed from the season 11 episode, 'A Kiss Before Frying' for continuity purposes. The rest belongs to CBS.**

*1 month after the events of Season 15, Episode 18*

Chapter 1

"Listen, I know you guys have been pulling a lot of doubles lately, and you will be paid overtime for all of them. The lab is still short two CSIs, so the undersheriff decided that we could borrow a person from days and another from swing to pick up the slack." D.B. told the group as they sat together in the break room at the beginning of shift. Greg, Sara and Morgan exchanged glances.

"Who're we getting?" Sara wondered.

"Sean Yeager from days, I think you've worked with him before, right Morgan?" Morgan nodded, remembering his attitude more than anything. He'd turned out to be a pretty decent guy by the end of the case, but not before acting as though he were a one man show.

"From swing, we're getting Amanda Bennet. I know that none of you have worked with her before, but she's a great girl, so play nice until…" D.B. trailed off. Everyone knew how awkward a situation the whole thing was. He didn't want to hire someone to replace Finn, because he wanted her job to be there when she woke up, but the facts were not good.

Finn had been in a coma for a month and her condition had not improved. She hadn't gotten any worse, but the doctors had no idea how long it would be before she woke up, if she ever did. Even then, they didn't know what kind of condition her mind would be in when or if that happened. Plus, Ecklie could only allow them to leave the job open for so long; they couldn't be permanently short a CSI.

"…until the situation changes." D.B. said. He put the case folders on the table.

"I'm going to get Yeager and Bennet now, just sit for a minute." D.B. walked out of the room. Sara sat back with a sigh.

"How was Sean?" She asked Morgan. Greg leaned over to listen. Morgan explained how her previous case with him went.

"He's a bit full of himself, but once you get past it, he's not so bad."

"I miss Nick." Greg said, staring into his almost empty cup of coffee.

"Me too." Sara and Morgan agreed at the same time. D.B. appeared with Sean and Amanda behind him. Everyone was introduced to one another. Sara and Greg met Sean for the first time, shaking his hand. Sean grinned.

Amanda looked about the same age as Sean and she immediately reminded Greg of Wendy Simms, the former DNA tech that transferred to Oregon. She had long dark hair, large dark eyes and fair skin. She smiled and shook their hands, but didn't speak.

"Normally I would love to give all of you time to get acquainted, but we have some cases that need handling right away, so forgive me for throwing you all together like this." D.B. said.

He held up the first folder and said, "Dead body found at the Paradise Motel, room 280. This one needs two people."

"I'll go." Sean immediately volunteered. D.B. handed him the folder. "Who's going with him?"

"I'll go with him." Morgan said. Greg felt his heart sink a little. Sean was handsome and he saw the way he looked at the women in the room. He'd had feelings for Morgan for years, but never acted on them. She'd made it clear she didn't date co-workers early on, but that didn't stop the attraction. Sean seemed like the kind of guy that would worm his way in, whether a girl was expecting it or not.

"Good, get going then." D.B. said. Sean and Morgan left and Greg tried not to stare after them.

"I have a dead body on the side of the road off of route 215 near a power station. Looks like a dump job, needs two people. Who wants it?"

"I'll go." Greg and Amanda said at the same time. Amanda smiled at him.

"Congrats, you both get it! That means Sara and I get the old lady in her house in the Alphabets." Sara nodded. D.B. gave Greg the folder.

"Okay, Amanda is a CSI two, so Greg, you supervise, got it?" Greg nodded. They both grabbed their kits and left together.

Greg and Amanda got to the scene, which officers had taped off. David from the morgue was already there, examining the body.

"So, Super Dave, what do we have?" Greg asked. Amanda checked the perimeter for tire treads, foot prints and other trace.

"Male, early to mid-30's, no wallet. Based on liver temp, I'd say he died about four to six hours ago." The man was face down in the dirt, and Greg couldn't see any blood.

"Here, let's flip him." He said, and they turned the guy over. He didn't have any blood on the front either. He was well dressed and looked as if he were asleep, even though they knew he wasn't.

"He has burn marks on his wrists." Dave said, pointing them out. Greg took pictures. Greg had a weird feeling in his stomach because the M.O. of this dump reminded him of another case he'd long ago put behind him.

"Open his shirt, would you Dave?"

"Sure thing." Dave unbuttoned the man's shirt and a large burn mark in the shape of a belt or restraint stretched across his chest.

"Whoa. This looks… familiar." Dave looked up at Greg, who'd gone pale. Amanda appeared next time.

"I found some fabric that we can give to Hodges, right? What's wrong, you look ill!" She put her hand on Greg's arm and it jolted him out of his daze. He tried to push the feeling of dread away.

"Uh, I need to talk to D.B. about this guy." Greg said slowly.

"How much you want to bet this guy's cause of death is going to be electrocution?" Dave said. Greg felt a chill go up his spine. If it was, that meant he would have to go to prison and talk to someone he hadn't seen in years.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! Here's the next chapter…**

Chapter 2

Dave took the man back to the morgue and Greg and Amanda finished processing the scene.

"You don't seem fine. I don't want to pry, but you looked… like you need to sit down and take a breather." She said.

Greg knew he would have to tell her if she was going to work the case with him, but if his suspicions were right, it also meant that he might be off the case.

"I'll fill you in on the way back to the lab." Greg said. On their drive back, he told Amanda about Ellen Whitebridge, whose real name ended up being Irina Pasternack. As much as he tried, he couldn't keep his personal feelings out of it. He explained her crimes, what happened to her ancestor and her goal in her murders.

"She dated me to get information. She claimed that she really did like me, but… how much of it was just her way of manipulating me?" Greg said. Amanda listened with wide eyes.

"What about the trial, did you have to testify?" She asked.

"No. The crime lab didn't want me to testify for the prosecution because they said I'd had a personal relationship with her. The defense was going to call me to testify on her behalf, but the judge wouldn't allow it because I work exclusively with the crime lab and it would be a conflict of interest. It was a giant nightmare. I never went to the trial at all." Amanda nodded, patting his arm.

"It must have been horrible for you. She must have seemed like such a great person, and to find out she was using you…" Greg smiled. He decided Amanda nice. She didn't fill the silence with chatter and she was good at listening.

"That's the problem, though. Her boyfriend or manager or whoever he was, Roderick Hammerbacher, he died and as far as we knew, he was the only one helping her. She's in prison. So who else could be doing this?" Greg wondered.

"Good question. Let's hope it isn't some kind of copycat who's trying to get attention." Amanda replied.

In autopsy, Doc Robbins confirmed that cause of death was electrocution. He showed Greg and Amanda the burn patterns on his scalp, the burn across his chest, wrists and ankles.

"This looks an awful lot like that case from years ago, but they put that woman away, didn't they?" Doc Robbins asked.

"Yes, they did." Greg said. They collected trace from the body and returned to the lab, where Morgan and Sean were already analyzing evidence from their scene.

"Give the stuff to Hodges, I have to talk to D.B." Greg said to Amanda, who nodded. She smiled sympathetically, touching his arm.

"It's going to be alright. This is going to turn out to be some copy-cat and it won't be a problem." She assured him. "Maybe you won't have to revisit this."

"I hope so." Greg said, even though he had a feeling it wouldn't be.

Morgan watched Greg and Amanda talking from across the room. Amanda liked to put her hand on his arm a lot and she smiled in that quiet way that girls like her had about them. She felt a small twinge of something. She didn't want to call it jealousy, because she had no reason to be jealous of Amanda. It wasn't as though she had any claim over Greg. She didn't even know if he had a girlfriend, but she just assumed he didn't. He never talked about going on dates, but neither did she. Except she didn't talk about it because she wasn't going on any.

But still. She was usually paired with Greg on cases and when people started calling him 'boyfriend' Greg to her face, she panicked a little and tried to pair up with other people. She didn't want her dad coming around, asking about what people meant by 'boyfriend' Greg. It wasn't even that she wasn't interested in him, because she did like him. He was very handsome, and smart, and funny… and basically her best friend, but she knew that if anything were to happen between them, it would break up the team and she didn't want to be the person that did that. Especially considering everything they'd been through recently.

Even so, she missed working with him. They had a good rhythm going when they worked together and she liked how she could just be around him and not have to worry about what she said or how he would react. Sometimes, she would obsess over things she thought were amazing, and Greg didn't make fun of her for it. He thought it was amazing, too! Sean might be cute, but she always felt as though she had to put up some kind of invisible barrier between the two of them when they worked together. She couldn't just say what came to her mind because Sean was the type of guy that would have made fun of her for saying something about Bloody Mary popping out of a mirror at a crime scene and stabbing a woman to death. With Greg…. He'd just gone with it.

 _Why am I so stupid, why did I volunteer to work with him?_ She wondered.

"I can't believe it was a suicide, I was sure it would be an interesting case." Sean said. Morgan resisted the urge to roll her eyes. He sure did whine a lot.

"Let's go see if Greg and Amanda need any help, then." Morgan said. Sean reluctantly followed her as they walked over to Amanda.

"Do you two need any help?" Morgan asked. Amanda shrugged.

"Greg went to go talk to D.B. about our case, apparently it matches the M.O. of someone who's been in prison since 2011." Sean perked up at this.

"Really? Now that sounds interesting."

"Oh, wow. I wasn't even here yet in 2011. I guess we can go ask Sara about it." Morgan said. The three of them found her with Henry in the DNA lab.

"You aren't finished already." Sara said, staring at the three of them.

"Greg is talking to D.B. about the guy they found. It matches the M.O. of someone already in prison for the crime." Amanda said. "None of us were here when the case came through the lab, so we thought we would ask you about it."

"Sure thing, what's the M.O.?"

"The man was electrocuted, he had burn marks on his chest, ankles and wrists." Amanda said. Sara's eyes went wide.

"What is it?" Sean wondered.

"Greg… explained it to me, but he seemed reluctant to share details." Amanda admitted.

"Why?" Morgan and Sean asked at the same time. Sara pulled them all out of the DNA lab and toward the break room.

"Greg was personally involved with the case. We may have to interview her again and it would be really awkward for him. I know he'd want to be there, but… I guess that's up to D.B. He wasn't the supervisor when we got the case, Catherine was." Sara said.

"Personally involved?" Morgan asked.

"Yes. This woman came on a tour through the lab. She flirted with Greg and he asked her out. They went on a bunch of dates and it all happened really fast. He really fell for her hard." Sara said.

"Her who?" Sean wondered.

"She said her name was Ellen Whitebridge, that she was a fourth grade science teacher. She seemed like such a sweet woman. Nick encouraged it, but she wasn't who she said she was. She stole some other woman's identity and she lied about her job." Sara explained.

"What does that have to do with the case?" Sean demanded.

"Well, she was dating him to get information. She was our killer." Sara said with a frown at Sean.

Morgan's mouth fell open. "What?"

"Greg dated a serial killer." Sara said. "And now he's going to talk to her for the first time since she went to prison for it."

D.B. not only wanted to keep Greg on the case, he wanted Greg to be the one to question her. He insisted that having Greg be to one to question her might provide 'unique insights' into the thought processes of a female serial killer.

"Amanda isn't ready for an interrogation like this, I want you to take Sara or Morgan with you, because they're more experienced. Amanda can wait in the observation room." When Greg came back from D.B.'s office, he found Amanda, Sara, Morgan and Sean in the break room. Sean and Morgan stared at him.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"I explained the situation about Ellen Whitebridge, aka Irina Pasternack." Sara said. Greg knew it was all part of the case; it had to be discussed, but he hated the look of horror in Morgan's eyes.

"D.B. wants me to be in the interview room. He wants me to take you or Morgan with me." Greg said to Sara.

"What about us?" Sean asked, pointing at himself and Amanda.

"Observation only. Irina is a master manipulator. She will do anything to twist you up and get you to feel sorry for her. She tried to kill me, I would have been her fourth victim if I hadn't realized what she was really doing in time." Greg said. The CSIs all looked at each other.

"I'll go in there with you." Morgan said. Sure she was nervous, but she wasn't going to stop volunteering for cases Greg worked on because of workplace rumors about romance. If she was a true friend, she'd be there for him, no matter what the circumstances. Even if his ex was a serial killer.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for the continued reviews and support! Here's another chapter!**

Chapter 3

Irina was brought from the prison to the station for questioning. The CSI's reviewed the previous case carefully and the psychologist that was working with her came to talk to them before the interview. Her name was Dr. Coleman.

"I don't get it, she was going after the descendants of the people who murdered her relative. As far as I know, there aren't any of them left." Greg said to Morgan as they sat with D.B., Dr. Coleman and the others.

"It's either a copy-cat or she has someone on the outside continuing her work, or perhaps an admirer. There could be other people involved with the case that she felt got away without punishment." D.B. suggested. Dr. Coleman nodded in agreement.

"Irina has been diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder, do you know what that means or what that is?" She looked at Greg and Morgan specifically, since they would be questioning her. Both shook their heads.

"Irina has a continual disregard for the rights of others. She is a pathological liar and has no remorse for causing harm to others. It's a type of psychopathy." Greg frowned and Morgan looked at him. She reached out and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. His face relaxed and he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"I understand you dated her for a while and you discovered that she was using you to gain information." Dr. Coleman said. Greg nodded. He hated that his personal life was now being dragged around for the sake of the case. Now everyone would be asking him about his feelings and his interactions with Irina. They'd want all the details.

"So… she uses people and lies about everything and she has no feelings." Sean said. Dr. Coleman shook her head.

"Not quite, it's more complicated than that. I'm sorry to have to ask such personal questions in front of your colleagues, Greg, but I have to ask. Did you sleep with Ms. Pasternack?" This was the question he dreaded. He knew she had to ask, it was part of her job. It would affect the way Irina acted and what she would say or do. She could attempt to manipulate others in the room using information she thinks they don't know. So to prevent that, they had to know everything.

Everyone was looking at him and Greg had to fight the urge to sink lower in the chair, so instead, he looked straight up at the ceiling. Morgan was still holding his hand.

"Yes." He said quietly. She gave his hand a squeeze the instant he answered and it made him feel a lot better. He looked at her and she had nothing but sympathy on her face. No judgement. No anger. _Why is she so perfect?_ Greg wondered to himself.

"So she might try to use that against you." Dr. Coleman said. "In fact, she will probably bring it up in an effort to embarrass you in front of your colleagues. She will do whatever she can to derail you."

D.B. nodded. "What do they need to keep in mind while questioning her? The highlights, if you will."

"All demonstrations of emotion are calculated decisions. She shows the emotion she thinks will gain her the most benefit. Everything she says and does is a manipulation. She will use whatever power she believes she has to embarrass you or make you feel weak. Remember that." Greg nodded. Sean and Amanda went to the observation room, while D.B. and Dr. Coleman waited in the hallway, just outside of the interrogation room. Detective Crawford was already in the room.

Greg felt twitchy. He was nervous about seeing her again because he'd really liked her at the time, and he was sure she knew that. Once she was arrested, all those feelings evaporated and Greg hadn't bothered to go on dates with anyone for a while. How could he? What if his dating history came up during conversation? He didn't want to lie to anyone about his history, but most girls would run screaming in the other direction if he told them the truth. So it was easier to just avoid having to tell them by not dating anyone.

Then, Morgan had shown up. She was beautiful, sure and that's what attracted him in the beginning. Then they actually started working together and he realized that she was so much more than a beautiful face. She was a science nerd, like him. She was tough and didn't take crap from people, but the ringing echo of her words kept playing through his mind. "I don't date co-workers." He knew it was generally better not too. What if their relationship went sour and they had to continue working together? How would it affect their relationship if one of them was put into harm's way? Despite this, he still liked her, and ironically enough, she understood the situation. She knew one of the most disturbing pieces of his history and she didn't care.

And now he would be in a small room with Irina and Morgan. Together. At the same time. What if she was able to pick up on the fact that he liked Morgan? He was sure Irina would do something to take advantage of the situation. He would try to hurt him or if she sensed that he liked Morgan, she would hurt her to hurt him.

"I'm nervous." Greg said to Morgan.

"Me too. I mean, how many female serial killers are out there?"

"Very little. And of all the people in the world to date and fall for, I managed to find one of the few female serial killers in Vegas. What's wrong with me? Why couldn't I see what she was doing earlier?"

"You heard Dr. Coleman. She's good at showing the emotions that will get what she wants. How were you supposed to know that?" Morgan asked. Greg was usually very good at staying calm during investigations and this made Morgan anxious. If Greg was nervous, what should she be feeling?

"Dr. Coleman told me privately that Irina might try to continue to show affection towards me, to manipulate me that way." Greg murmured to Morgan. "But she also said that Irina might fixate on you and get angry that I'm bringing another woman into the room. She will target you because of it. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, I'm sure! You can't be in there alone with her and I'm not leaving." Morgan said. Greg smiled. Morgan was always so brave, even when he wasn't so sure about things.

"Ready?" Morgan asked.

"I guess so." Greg sighed as they entered the interrogation room.

Irina was wearing a blue jumpsuit and no makeup, but she was as beautiful as Greg remembered. That's why this made it so much more difficult. She had a way of looking so innocent and beautiful and it tugged at his heart. Irina's eyes grew wide when she saw him and she stood up.

"Greg! Oh, Greg I knew they would send you!" She reached out to touch him, but Detective Crawford moved into the way. Irina frowned at him.

"Sit down." He ordered. Irina lowered her eyes and sat down. Greg sat across from her and Morgan sat in the chair next to him. Detective Crawford stood to the side. He agreed to let Greg question her since they had a previous relationship and D.B. thought it might make her more inclined to talk. Irina immediately stared at Morgan.

"Who is this?"

"This is Morgan, she works with me at the Crime Lab." Greg said.

"Why is she here? To babysit you? I wanted to see you _alone_."

"No, she's here to observe." Greg said. Morgan hadn't said anything yet. In fact, Greg was impressed by her poker face. She showed no indication that Irina bothered her or that her questions were intrusive.

"So you brought another pretty woman into the room to see how I would react? Greg, you know I still love you. I never stopped loving you!" She reached out and grasped his hand. Greg stared at it and then at her.

"We're here because someone was inspired by your work, Irina. A man was found, electrocuted to death. Burn marks match a homemade electric chair." Greg said. He removed his hand from hers and put the pictures of the man's body in front of her. She seemed to ignore the pictures. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"You don't love me anymore, do you? Do you have a new girlfriend? I understand, it's been years since we've seen each other. Of course you moved on." Irina looked at Morgan, who remained silent.

"Are you her boss?" Irina asked, pointing at Morgan.

"Morgan is not the focus right now. You are. Who might be so inspired by your work that they would be inclined to copy it?" Greg asked. Irina looked back at Greg and smiled. She shrugged.

"I got a lot of letters during the trial from men who found me… provocative. I never responded to any of them, I was too busy looking for you. I hoped you would come, but my lawyers told me that you weren't permitted in the room."

"Irina, are you going to answer the question?" Greg asked. She stared at Morgan again.

"Is she your new girlfriend?"

It took everything in his power to not react. He didn't want her to sense anything regarding his feelings for Morgan. He was convinced Morgan didn't return his feelings beyond friendship anyway, so it didn't matter. Detective Crawford did react.

"If you're going to waste our time, we can do this without your help." She blinked and looked at him in surprise.

"I'll answer the questions on one condition." Irina said with a slow smile.

"That would be what exactly?" Detective Crawford asked, sounding suspicious.

"I get to give Greg a kiss. Right now."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"No." Detective Crawford said, picking up the photos of their victim and putting them back into the folder. He gathered his things in preparation to leave the room.

"Wait."

Morgan and Detective Crawford stared at Greg in surprise. Irina's face never lost its mysterious smile. Detective Crawford leaned over to Greg and said, "You don't have to do this. We don't need her, don't do something you don't want to do for the sake of information that we aren't sure is reliable."

"Morgan?" Greg asked. She shrugged, now looking impassive.

"It's your choice, Greg. Will we get anything useful from her or is this her way of continuing to manipulate you?" Greg knew that Morgan's lack of emotional response was what Dr. Coleman told her to do. They weren't supposed to show emotion in front of Irina because then it would put her off balance. She wouldn't know what to pretend to feel and she might slip up and say something important. Greg desperately wanted to know how Morgan really felt, but he couldn't ask with Irina in front of him.

"My offer isn't open ended. Your deadline is right now." Irina said. Greg stared at her.

"How do I know that what you plan to tell me is useful?" He asked and Irina sighed.

"You'll just have to trust that I want to help you, Greg. Never hurt you."

"We both know it's much too late for that." Greg replied, their eyes locked onto each other's. Irina didn't react. Morgan's heart hurt for Greg. She'd really hurt him and although she knew he didn't have any more feelings for her, she was trying to hurt him again. Of course she didn't want Greg to kiss Irina. She didn't think anything valuable would come from it, but she'd already told him that. If she protested too much, Irina would sense her feelings for him and do something even worse.

"Well?"

"Fine, she can kiss me. If the information doesn't prove useful, we won't be speaking with you again." Greg said. Irina smiled, jumping up from her seat.

"They have to stay in the room, I like the audience." She hissed across the table at him. Morgan didn't want to watch, she wanted to flee the room.

"I guess it would be difficult to do burlesque performances if you didn't like an audience." Greg replied with a neutral expression. Irina laughed. _Laughed._

Morgan was amazed at how genuine it sounded. She wanted to yell at Greg that giving Irina something that she wanted wouldn't help them _that_ much. It was the worst kind of torture but the only comfort she could manage was that she knew Greg would hate it.

Irina leaned over the table, cupped Greg's face in her hands and kissed him on the mouth. It was a long, soft kiss. Morgan felt her stomach sink and she bit down on the insides of her mouth to avoid making a face. She let her vision go fuzzy so that she could pretend it was someone else, not Greg. Kissing a serial killer for information. She tried pretending it was her, and that made her feel only slightly better.

When it was over, Irina was staring at her, licking her lips. She smiled.

"I hope you can make him happy, darling. Greg is a special man. Have you ever kissed him? He's quite good at it." She stroked him arm and Greg pulled away. His face was blank and it made Morgan nervous. Greg usually had such an expressive face, full of smiles and laughs. Now it was a mask of nothing and she knew he was feeling an emotional roller coaster behind it.

"What information do you have?"

Irina sat back down. "Perhaps you should go digging a little further into the history of Agnes LaPlouffe and her murder. There's more to the story, yes?" She blew a kiss at Greg.

"Thank you for that, darling, it will provide many a pleasant dream for me in my long, lonely years to come."

Greg washed his face. His hands. He wanted to jump into a shower and scrub himself off. She still smelled like peaches and now he associated it with… death. He hated that; he hated that she'd ruined a perfectly good scent for him. He couldn't even eat the fruit anymore without seeing her lovely, dangerous face in his mind. It made his insides feel slimy and contaminated.

He wished he could erase that entire portion of his life. If only Hodges hadn't brought that tour through the lab! He sat in the locker room while the others processed evidence and started digging through the history of Vegas. Greg knew he should be there to help. He was supposed to be the history expert, but here he was, trying to get the scent of peaches off of his skin in the locker room.

"Greg?" He turned to see Morgan standing in the doorway. She came and sat next to him.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. We could have found information on our own." She said. Greg shrugged.

"I thought if I let her think she was getting what she wanted, she would do something. Give something away that would help. I think she even expected me to say no right away, so I wanted to throw her off. You know, she tried to convince me it wasn't her, all the way until the end, when she was arrested."

"I can see why you fell for her. She's very convincing. If I didn't know what she was, I would have believed her." Morgan said quietly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't stop me from feeling like the biggest idiot on the planet." Greg said, rubbing his face. Morgan still thought Greg was handsome, sweet and intelligent, but he seemed to have the worst luck with women. She reached up and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You aren't an idiot. She chose you because of circumstances out of your control and why shouldn't she? I stand by what I said when we found Alison in the piano. You're a total catch. You attract women who want to have a great guy. She sensed your goodness and wanted to use it, but… there are women out there who won't use you, they'll love you."

Greg looked up at Morgan, who smiled. Their faces were fairly close together and Greg could smell her hair. It reminded him of oranges, jasmine and vanilla, a combination he wouldn't normally put together, but on Morgan it was perfect. She still had her hand on his shoulder and his heart pounded in his chest. Her beautiful eyes locked onto his. Of course he'd imagined Morgan in Irina's place. He wanted to lean in and just…

"Greg? Morgan?" Amanda interrupted their moment and they both turned to look at her.

"We I. the victim and Russell wants you to come see the connection they made." She said before backing away slowly. The moment was ruined. Greg felt a surge of anger at Amanda.

Morgan chewed her lip. Could she start something with Greg? After everything that had happened to the team? Nick was gone, so was Catherine. What would Sara think if she and Greg were caught having a relationship and he was forced to move to swing or days? She didn't even know if Greg wanted that for himself. He'd worked grave since he became a CSI, she knew. Would he be willing to change his working relationships for the sake of a relationship with her?

"I guess we should go. Thank you, Morgan." Greg said.

"Always."

The victim's name was Marty Daniels and he seemed to be a regular guy, but Russell held a paper in the air.

"He's a descendant of the jury foreman of the trial of Boris Kuchko for the murder of Agnes LaPlouffe." Russell said.

"Does that mean we need to start tracking down the descendants of the rest of the jury?" Amanda asked.

"Maybe, but I'm confused. Who else besides Irina would have the motive to kill these people? Who else would care about this history so much?" Sara asked.

"Irina did say to dig into the history. Maybe there was evidence of jury tampering that was ignored back then that someone is upset with now. Whatever it is, it can't be a coincidence. This new murder has to be connected to Irina somehow. Either she gave the order or she had help back then that we never discovered." Greg said, digging through the papers.

"All right, that could be a lead. Sara, could you check to see if the tire treads came back? We can narrow our search that way." D.B. said. Sara nodded and left to check on the status of that.

"Amanda, where are we with trace?" D.B. asked.

"Hodges was still running it when I checked, I'll go ask him now." She left to talk to Hodges, leaving Greg, Morgan and Sean.

"Sean, you and Morgan check traffic cameras and look for any vehicles that would fit with the tire treads. Hopefully we caught this person on camera." D.B. said and they left. Morgan gave Greg's hand an encouraging squeeze before she walked out with Sean.

"Greg, you're in charge of research. Track down other descendants of the jury and find out if there was anything suspicious going on with them."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you everyone for the consistent reviews! (morganders-love, wannabewriter07 & guest, whoever you are!) If it matters to you, Happy Independence Day and here's a chapter…. I might be generous and post Chapter 6 later today, depending…**

Chapter 5

Greg tracked down the living descendants of the jury he could find in Vegas. Only three of the descendants lived in or near Vegas and now one of them was dead. Once he found that most of the others were scattered in other places, like New Mexico and California, he stopped digging for those and focused on the locals.

There was a lot of rumor floating around the jury of the trial, but none of those rumors came until much later. They'd been bought off, according to most people, which wasn't a surprise based on the rest of the court proceedings. As he dug deeper, however, he became interested in Agnes LaPlouffe's daughter, the one she had out of wedlock with Boris Kuchko. Her name had been Theresa Kuchko.

She'd been given to Boris' sister, Lana Kuchko. As he went forward through the family tree, he easily found where Irina was connected to Agnes, but then he noticed a small notation at the bottom of one of the documents. Irina's mother, Theresa, married a man named Victor Pasternack, but he died when Irina was only five years old.

"Irina's mother had a second husband and another child. Irina has a half-sibling!" Greg hissed, staring at the document in shock. He ran to Russell with the news. He explained everything to him.

"That's great, Greg. Do you know the name of the second husband?"

"That's just it, I can't find it! There's no marriage certificate on record, maybe they weren't legally married, and he could have just lived with her."

"Then you need to start looking through birth records from around that time here in Vegas. Anything that might fit with them." Russell said.

"Got it!"

Greg went to find Sara, Sean and Morgan first, just to see what kind of progress they'd made. They'd narrowed down a list of vans big enough to house an electric chair and portable generator based on the tire treads and were searching through the footage of the traffic cameras.

"There's a lot of trucks that fit that description driving through here! The 215 isn't a back country road." Sean complained as he searched through the footage.

"Well I found something. Irina has a half-sibling she neglected to mention. That gives us someone with motive for this out there, somewhere." Greg said.

"That's great! Do you need help?" Morgan asked, using her eyes to show Greg that she wasn't eager to continue working with Sean.

"Yes, actually, that would be great." Greg said, smiling.

"Wait, you're leaving me here?" Sean asked. Sara rolled her eyes and poked his shoulder. She arched her eyebrows.

"Because I'm not a person, right Sean?" She said.

"Oh. Yeah." Sean muttered.

~XXXX~

"This is crazy. This woman must have never married the guy. I can't even find a name for him!" Morgan said as she looked through social security databases for information.

"I might have found something, look." Greg showed her an entry for a live birth to a woman named Theresa LaPlouffe.

"Why would she go back to her mother's maiden name?" Morgan wondered. Greg shrugged.

"It's the closest to what I'm looking for, except it doesn't say the child's name, just that it was a girl." Greg said.

"Well, that's something! Now we know that the person doing it this time is also a woman. Did you ever get a sample of Irina's DNA?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, it's in the system." Greg said. Then it dawned on him. "You want to do a familial match test, to see if Irina's sample is a match to anyone already in the system!" Morgan nodded.

"Great idea."

They spoke to Henry who started the analysis right away. When they went to check in with D.B. they found him on the phone, looking upset.

"Right. Yes. I'll send some people out there, then. Thanks." He hung up his phone.

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked.

"We have another electrocution death, but this one's in the desert."

~XXXX~

The man they found was on the list of descendants Greg created based on the jurors from the trial.

"We need to find the last guy and put him into protective custody." Brass said, calling over the radio as they arrived at the scene. Greg and Amanda approached the body. Morgan, Sara and Sean stayed back at the lab in case any other calls came in. Greg wanted Morgan to come, but D.B. hadn't seen any reason to change out the pairings since the start of the investigation.

"Oh… oh god." Amanda said, backing away from the corpse.

"What's wrong?" Greg asked. Tears filled her eyes and she covered her mouth. The coroner hadn't arrived yet, but the scene was taped off.

"No… no." She started shaking and tears spilled down her cheeks.

"Amanda?" Greg asked, feeling mildly panicked. She didn't speak, instead her eyes were locked onto the corpse of the man in front of them. He was youngish, with blonde hair and brown eyes, which were still open.

"What's wrong?" Greg wondered. Amanda suddenly turned to him and buried her face into his chest, breaking into sobs, clinging to him. Surprised, Greg put an arm around her and patted her.

"Come over here." Greg led her back to the Denali, where she sat down in the passenger seat. It took her a moment to calm down, but when she did she took a shuddering breath.

"I'm sorry, I just… I knew that guy. He's my ex!" She wiped tears from her face.

"He is? I had no idea he was on the list." Greg said. "Are you going to be able to process the scene?"

Amanda shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't know if I can look at him and…" She covered her face.

"I'll call someone else in and if you feel up to it, you can help us out, but for now you can stay here. Is that okay?" Greg asked. Amanda nodded, setting her hands in her lap as more tears spilled down her cheeks.

Greg called Morgan and updated her on the situation. "I don't know if Amanda is in a position to handle processing the scene. She's still sitting in the Denali, crying. Could you come help?"

"Sure thing, I'll be there in a few minutes." Morgan said. Greg started processing the scene while he waited for Morgan to arrive. It was exactly like the previous one; the tire treads matched the ones from the first scene and the body had the same burn patterns. Dave showed up to pronounce.

"This guy's been dead a while. At least 48 hours." Dave told Greg.

"So he was killed before our other victim." Greg said, taking pictures of the ligature marks.

"Yes, at least a day before. I hope whoever else is on that list is in hiding." Dave said. Morgan pulled up next to Greg's Denali and he went to update her on the victim's time of death.

After hearing the news, Morgan asked, "How's Amanda?"

"I haven't checked on her in a while." Greg said. They walked over to his Denali, where Amanda was still sitting. Morgan stood back a little, not wanting to intrude. She hadn't even had a full conversation with Amanda and didn't know if she wanted her nearby while being so emotional. Plus, she didn't know if she liked her yet. She was so touchy feely with Greg that Morgan wanted to see what Amanda would do if she didn't know that Morgan was there. She'd seen the look on Amanda's face when she interrupted them in the locker room. Not anger, but…. annoyance or hostility.

"Are you feeling any better?" Greg asked. Amanda looked up at him and smiled sadly; Morgan stayed back and watched.

"You must think I'm crazy, crying over an ex like this."

"Not really. I dealt with a case a couple of years back when I recognized a body as an ex, too. So I understand how…horrifying it feels. You don't want to remember them that way." Amanda looked surprised.

"You seem to have a very colorful dating history." Amanda remarked.

Greg laughed a little. When she put it that way, she was right. Greg didn't want to think about the bad luck of his former girlfriends or lovers.

"Thank you, for understanding." She said, throwing her arms around him in another hug. Greg patted her again and she planted a kiss on his temple.

"You're as sweet as I've heard." She wiped a tear away.

Morgan stood there, in shock. Amanda just kissed Greg! She stared at his face, watching his reaction. He looked surprised, and she could tell he was trying to act as though it wasn't a big deal, since Amanda didn't seem to think she'd done anything strange.

"Thanks." Greg said. "You can get a ride back to the lab with one of the officers, okay?" Amanda nodded and Morgan backed away towards her own Denali, pretending to refill something from her kit. Amanda got out of the car and walked towards the officers.

"Morgan! So you're the one Greg called to help?" Amanda asked, stopping to watch her put batteries in a flashlight.

"Yeah. I was getting tired of listening to Sean whine about watching traffic camera footage, anyway. I'm sorry about … this." Morgan gestured towards the corpse and Amanda nodded. She had to stay calm. Amanda hadn't known that she was looking and listening in.

"Hey, I know this is going to sound… odd, all things considered. Do you know if Greg is dating anyone?" Amanda asked. Morgan had to prevent herself from snapping at her. Why did Amanda want to know that and why was she asking _her_? She couldn't help but think that she was being passive aggressive about this; she'd seen them in the locker room together. Sure, nothing had happened, but Amanda could make assumptions all she liked, Morgan knew, and there wasn't anything she could do to prevent it.

"Uhh… I don't think he is. Why do you ask?" Morgan said. She didn't want to admit jealousy, because if she did then that meant…she wanted to be more than friends with Greg. There was no way Amanda was going to date Greg.

"I don't know, you seem like you two are good friends. I just thought if he were dating anyone, he'd be likely to talk to you about it." Amanda said.

"Right. Well, I mean if you're asking for yourself, you should know that they discourage personal relationships between CSIs. I wouldn't want you to get into trouble or anything." Morgan said, forcing her face into a smile. She hoped it looked genuine.

"Oh, okay." Amanda said, walking away. Morgan wanted to throw the flashlight at her back.

 _She barely knows him, they aren't going to go on any date!_ She thought, snapping her kit shut. _Stop worrying about it, Greg doesn't even like Amanda. Does he?_

"Ready to process the scene?" Greg asked, appearing at her side.

She jumped. "Oh… yes, sure." She forced herself to think about the crimes and the victims and not whether or not Greg liked Amanda and would go on a date with her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After processing the scene, Greg and Morgan returned to the lab. Greg noticed that Morgan was acting strange the whole time; she wasn't her normal, carefree self. On the drive back, he asked her what was up.

"Oh, nothing."

"Yes, it's something. I can tell. What's wrong?" Greg asked.

"Nothing's _wrong_ exactly. It's just… odd, that's all." Morgan said.

"Fine, something is odd. What is it?"

Morgan was nervous. If she told him, he would think she was jealous. If she didn't say anything, he would think she was pushing him away and he'd stop talking to her. _Damn!_

"I saw Amanda kiss you. Then she asked me if you were dating anyone. I told her you weren't, but that I didn't know for sure." Morgan said. _There, it's out there._ She felt better.

Greg was silent for a while. Morgan's heart began to pound in her chest. _He thinks I'm jealous of the attention she's giving him._ She remembered the time that he told her that she was the last person who should be giving relationship advice. Sure, he'd apologized for it later, but it hurt all the same. Plus, he was right, for the most part.

"Why would she ask you about my dating life?" Greg asked finally.

"Well, funnily enough I asked her the same thing. She said that since we seemed to be such good friends, she assumed that we talked about our dating lives, or that at least you'd confided in me about yours." Morgan replied, forcing herself to sound as distant from the conversation as possible.

Greg was silent again. Morgan knew it was just because he was collecting his thoughts. It was one of the things she liked about him; the fact that he actually thought about what he was going to say, carefully, before saying it. Most of the time. Right now wasn't one of those times.

"You told her I wasn't dating anyone?"

"Yes." Morgan said, deciding to leave out the part where she basically told her she couldn't date coworkers. She couldn't exactly tell Amanda that and turn around and… do what, exactly? She sure wasn't going to tell Greg that and she really hoped she was right.

Greg nodded slowly. "Well, you guessed right, but I don't know if I want to go on a date with Amanda." Morgan felt a rush of release. _Thank God!_

"Oh, really?" Morgan said.

"No. She seems nice and all, but… she got clingy really quick. That's probably a bad sign." Greg said, smiling. Morgan couldn't entirely suppress a giggle.

"I hope I got her off your back, then." Morgan said, in a much better mood.

When they walked back into the lab, D.B. debriefed them on the situation. The final man on the list was put into protective custody in a safe house that was being kept secret, even from the CSIs on the case. Henry didn't come up with any matches on the familial DNA comparisons, which meant they'd come to a dead end. D.B. wanted Morgan to help Sara with something, so she went to do that while Greg talked to Henry.

"I don't know what to tell you, man. The half-sister isn't in the system and neither is her father, whoever he is." Henry said. Greg sighed in frustration. He was busy studying his notes and didn't notice Henry's phone ring.

"Greg?"

"Hmm?" He turned to look at Henry.

"Catherine's on the phone."

"What? She is? Why?"

"She said it's about your case. Apparently, the FBI's involved." Henry said, holding the phone out to him.

~XXXXX~

"Hey, Catherine, what's going on?" Greg asked, moving out of Henry's way. Catherine greeted him and then launched into her explanation. Apparently, when they'd input the information into their database, it triggered a flag in the FBI database.

"There are cases in two states that match the one you're working now and the one from years ago. The unsolved murders in New Mexico are back logged so it took a while before the flag was visible on our end. A year ago, two men were electrocuted, same M.O., in Albuquerque. The case went cold and no more bodies turned up. Yesterday, I got a call from San Diego."

"Nick?" Greg asked, perking up.

"Yep. They were working through some backlogged cases of their own and turned up two dead bodies, also with the same M.O. Their cases are a year older than the New Mexico ones. Since the M.O. matched a case I worked before, the powers that be at Quantico wanted me to contact you to let you know that they're interested in an inter-state cooperation on this case."

"You're… coming here?" Greg asked, excited.

"Not just me. Nick too! We're getting the team back together to catch the person helping Irina Pasternack."

~XXXXX~

Within the next 24 hours, Nick and Catherine were back in the crime lab, smiling and hugging Sara, D.B., Greg and Morgan. Sean and Amanda were there, but since they didn't know either one of them, they hung back. Greg might have hugged Nick a bit longer than was considered acceptable, but he was so excited to have him back for a case that he couldn't help it.

"So, Greggo, don't you think it's time we put this case to bed?" Nick asked, hands on his hips, ready to go.

"God, yes. Did Morgan tell you about our interrogation of Irina?" Greg asked. Catherine smirked.

"I saw the video of it. Quite impressive, Greg. I've gotta say, my bosses over at Quantico were actually impressed as well." Greg was surprised.

"They… were?"

"Yeah. You didn't act as though any of it bothered you, they were impressed with your ability to handle the pressure and stress. It put you on their radar, at least." Catherine said. Greg didn't know how he felt about that.

"Okay, team. It's nice for everyone to have old friends back, but we need to put our heads together to catch this woman. Thanks to Greg, we know that Irina Pasternack has a half-sister who was born here in Vegas, but we haven't found any other paper trail that might lead us to her identity. Is there anything from the cases in San Diego or Albuquerque that could help us catch her here?" D.B. asked, getting to business.

"Well, we know that this woman operated fairly quickly on her victims in Albuquerque two years ago. Each man died within 48 hours of one another and no other bodies with that M.O. turned up since then. The cases went cold because they couldn't find a link between the two men and they were dumped in separate locations." Catherine said.

"Same with the victims in San Diego. Both died within 48 hours of one another and the cases went cold when they didn't find a link. The M.O. was so unique, though, that when they put the information into the database for the San Diego lab, it connected it to the case in New Mexico and the one here." Nick said.

"And of course when you have such commonalities across state lines, the Federal Government gets interested. I forwarded the case files from San Diego and Albuquerque to you guys so that you can confirm that all the victims were descendants of jury members." Catherine said.

"Meanwhile, our last guy is in protective custody, so she won't be able to get at him." Sara said.

"All right. Sean, how much of that traffic footage do you have left to go through?" D.B. asked.

"At least an hour's worth of the footage from the first dead guy. I haven't touched anything from the one we just found." He said.

"Okay, Sean and Morgan, I want you to work that angle. Greg, Amanda and Sara, I want you confirming the identities of the victims in each case. I'll work with Nick and Catherine to iron out any details." D.B. said. Everyone went to their assigned locations.

Greg didn't want to keep working with Amanda. She'd been nice in the beginning, sure, but now that they were alone again, she kept moving into his personal space whenever she got the chance. After that unexpected kiss earlier, he didn't know what to think of her. Did she like him? Was she just emotional and reacted to the first person who showed her kindness? He was glad Morgan had warned him about her intrusive questions, too.

It wasn't that she wasn't pretty or anything, but he'd harbored feelings for Morgan for so long that he had tunnel vision. He wasn't really interested in dating someone else. Sara was with them and she seemed to notice Amanda's focus on Greg. When she was turned away, Sara shot Greg a look and he shrugged.

"What's going on with you and Amanda?" She mouthed at him.

"Nothing. She's clingy." He mouthed back. Sara grinned, pressing her lips together.

"We got something!"

They looked up to find Sean, waving results in the air and running down the hall towards D.B. with Morgan just behind him. Greg, Sara and Amanda came out of their room to see what the update was about.

"A large white van was stolen from a service that repairs and replaces air conditioning units. The traffic camera came up with the plate and it was the only truck large enough that we couldn't track back directly to its owner." Morgan said.

"Great. Sean and Morgan, go talk to the guy who reported it stolen and see if he can remember anything about who stole it. Get as much detail as you can from him!" Sean and Morgan left. Greg yawned and hurriedly covered it up.

"Greg… you've pulled a double, maybe you should go home and take a quick break, huh? Come back in a couple of hours after a good nap." D.B. said.

Greg didn't want to leave, but he knew he would be more of a help if he was well rested. Reluctantly, he agreed, but first he insisted on finishing up with Sara and Amanda.

"Sure thing, but then go get some sleep!" Nick called after him. Greg waved him away with a smile.

He returned to the room where he, Sara and Amanda had been working, only Amanda wasn't there. Sara had gone back to digging through the information for the victims in Albuquerque.

"Where's Amanda?" Greg wondered.

"Oh, she had to go home and let her dog out, she said. Having a pet that needs all that attention with a job like this is a bad idea." Sara said. They worked through the rest of the descendants quickly, confirming each of them to members of the jury.

"Wow, this family is really dedicated to avenging past wrongs." Sara said. "It's kind of sad, really. They feel so dedicated to some injustice from decades ago that they don't even live their own lives."

Greg agreed. He and Sara showed D.B., Nick and Catherine their results, confirming the identity of each victim as that of a relative of a jury member. D.B. and Nick both told Greg to go home and get some rest.

"No one wants you sleeping all over our evidence, anyway." Nick joked. Greg laughed.

"Okay, okay! I'm going, but I'll be back in a few hours to help out." He insisted.

"I'm sending other people home for a temporary break, too." D.B. said. "Catherine, Nick and I can work the case while you all get some rest."

Greg grabbed his things from his locker, looked in on Morgan, who had come back from talking to the van's owner. She was nodding off in front of computer monitor. He knocked on the door and she sat up quickly, looking over at him. She smiled.

"I'm heading home for a quick break. You should probably do the same." He told her. Morgan stretched, her blonde hair falling off of her shoulders and catching the light. Greg wished he could touch it.

"Yeah. I need a nap." She said. "Text me when you're on your way back, okay?" She asked.

"Of course."

Greg walked out to the parking structure, digging through his pockets for his keys. He found them and was walking towards his car when he heard rushed footsteps behind him. Before he could turn to see who it was, something heavy and metallic came down onto the back of his head. Pain split through his skull before he slipped away into darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! I know I updated with two chapters yesterday, but I thought I would continue with one chapter a day until the story is finished, which will be soon. I already have another idea for a story (a Greg & Morgan centered one) banging around in my head, so that'll get written before too long. Hope you had a good holiday weekend (if you celebrate July 4** **th** **)!**

Chapter 7

"So the driver described the person stealing his car as a slender white female with dark hair. Basically, it sounds exactly like Irina. So we know her sister looks like her, but aside from that, he didn't see anything." Morgan told D.B. when she and Sean got back from talking to the owner of the van.

"Great, but that doesn't really narrow it down though. What about finding a birth certificate for the second child?" Catherine wondered.

"I've been looking for that, and I think I found it." Nick said. They all looked surprised. Greg had dug around for it to no avail, but it turned out that she hadn't been born in Vegas after all, but a small town in northern Nevada.

"The problem, though, is that I can't find any evidence to prove that she was in Albuquerque or San Diego during the times of the other murders." He said, showing them the computer screen.

"What's her name?" Sean asked.

"Her father is listed as Paul Drago and she's listed as Anastasia Drago. I can't find any record of Anastasia's whereabouts after the age of 18." Nick said, looking frustrated.

"Well, let me help you. Maybe she changed her name. What is the last record you have for her?" Morgan asked.

"She graduated from a small high school in New Mexico and after that, nothing." Nick said.

"May I?" Morgan asked. D.B. gave her the go ahead and she went to a computer to do some digging. Greg appeared to say goodbye and she made him promise to text her when he came back. She was dragging, so she grabbed some coffee before starting her search.

Nick showed up to help her out. "So… how's things around here?" He asked. Morgan smiled.

"Boring without you, of course! Greg really misses you. I think he feels outnumbered." Nick laughed.

"Yeah, I miss him too. Did I ever tell you about the time Catherine caught him dancing around in a dancer's headdress in the middle of the hallway?" Morgan burst into laughter.

"What?"

"Yep. It was evidence, they needed to get DNA off of it and back then Greg was our DNA and all-purpose lab rat. He was great at it. After getting the DNA evidence off, he decided to take it for a spin. I wish someone had caught it on tape." Nick was laughing.

"What did it look like?" She asked, typing in information about the high school Anastasia Drago graduated from into the computer.

Nick described it to her, peacock feathers and all. She couldn't begin to picture it or Greg wearing it. She'd seen pictures of him back then, of him and Nick, being goofy together. It made her wish she'd known them for longer.

"That's awesome, I wish I could have been there. I guess I would have been just out of high school, then." She said.

Nick groaned. "Don't remind me of how old I am! Man, we have this guy in San Diego, he's been there forever. He remembers everyone, too. I think he's old enough to be my dad."

"Everyone?"

"Yeah, that Amanda girl I met a while ago? She looks a lot like the Amanda that worked for the San Diego lab a couple years back. He told me all about her, showed me her picture and everything. He said she got really clingy with one of their lab techs. I think she transferred out to avoid any blowback. Don't know to where." Nick said offhandedly.

Morgan frowned. Amanda worked for the San Diego lab a couple of years ago? That meant she could have been there when the electrocution cases went through. But that made no sense, if she'd been there when that happened, wouldn't she have mentioned it? Unless…

"Do you remember how long ago that was?" She asked. Nick shrugged.

"Two or three, I guess. Why?"

"Just… a hunch. Let me check something." She went into the personnel files and looked up Amanda's name. She didn't have access to them because she wasn't a supervisor. "Damn." She hissed. Nick saw what she was doing.

"You think Amanda was in San Diego when those murders happened and she didn't tell us?" He asked. Morgan nodded.

"Let me talk to D.B. I bet he can check her employment history." Nick said.

"I'm coming with you, I have a weird feeling about this." Morgan said, following him down the hall to the supervisor's office.

~XXXXX~

The first thing Greg realized before waking up was that he was moving and based on the background noise, he knew he was in the back of a car. His head throbbed violently and he winced. Opening a single eye, he looked around.

Someone had rolled him behind a generator, which wasn't powered on. Just past it, he could see a large wooden chair and a man, his back to him. He was talking on a phone and Greg could only hear pieces of the conversation from his distance.

He cautiously moved his fingers and toes, just to make sure everything was in working order. When he discovered it was, he moved to check if he still had his phone. It was in his back pocket, and when he slid it out to use it, he saw the screen was cracked. Annoyed, he put it back in his pocket, hoping it was still broadcasting a signal that the team could track to find him.

So far, the man at the other end of the van hadn't noticed that he was awake, which Greg knew he would have to use to his advantage. A dim light overhead was the only way to see. Slowly, he used the noises and bumps in the road to get up and move towards him. He felt warm blood pour from a wound on his head and the ground spun under his feet.

 _I can't pass out now, I have to do this! Keep going!_

He knew what happened, now. Irina's half-sister had heard they were investigating. She'd tracked him down and had her minion attack him in the parking garage at the crime lab. For all he knew, Irina had been in contact with her all along and she'd told her what was happening. He inched his way around the massive electric chair and as he approached the guy, he saw the gun sticking out of the waistband of his pants.

 _Shit. Of course I don't have my gun with me, why would I?_ Greg thought. But he'd prepared for moments like this. After the death of Demetrius James and the attack in the alley, Greg had been fearful of crowds. He hated how scared and weak he felt and for the longest time, he didn't tell anyone. Nick, though, could tell something was up. When he confronted him about it, Greg admitted his fears.

Nick hadn't pushed his ideas away as silly or irrational. Instead, he gave him some advice.

"Face your fear. How do you overcome this?"

The only thing he could think to do was to take self-defense classes. He took as many of them as he could and worked out in the gym when he got the chance. It worked, or at least, it helped. For years, he'd continued the training so that if a situation ever arose again, he wouldn't be defenseless like last time. Sure, he had his gun, which helped, but he knew that he wouldn't always have it with him. There would be times, like this one, when he had to rely on his own reflexes and skills.

Once he was directly behind the guy, he reached out and snatched the gun from his waistband, pointing it at him. The man whipped around to stare at him. Greg didn't recognize him.

"Give me the phone before I shoot you." Greg snarled. The man laughed.

"You idiot. That gun isn't loaded." Greg wasn't going to look away long enough to check. Besides, why would he be carrying an unloaded gun?

"So you won't mind if I test it out then, right?" He asked, before aiming at the man's knee and pulling the trigger.

~XXXXX~

Nick and Morgan talked to D.B. and he immediately checked her employment history. Sure enough, she'd worked for the crime labs in Albuquerque and San Diego during the times of the electrocution murders.

"I don't understand this. They do an extensive background check on everyone before they work here. How could we have missed that?" Morgan asked.

"Well, she doesn't have a criminal history. She's never been convicted of anything. When I look her up on my databases, it shows that the identity of Amanda Bennet has only existed for twelve years." Catherine said.

"Do we have her prints on anything? Can we run them?" Morgan asked.

"Just what I was thinking!" Nick said, running from the room. He came back moments later with Sara.

"She touched this." Sara said, holding the paper with gloves. They printed it and ran it through AFIS. It showed a match to someone named Anastasia Bennet.

"From San Diego." Nick said, glaring at the screen. Her fingerprints had been put into the system by the San Diego lab when she worked there.

"She does look like Irina. If you think about it." Morgan said. They exchanged glances and D.B. sighed.

"If this is true, then all her cases are considered contaminated. I've gotta talk to Ecklie." He said, picking up the phone.

"So… this is our conclusion? Amanda is the killer?" Sara asked.

"She's our only link to all three locations." Nick said.

"You know… Amanda disappeared a couple of hours ago. She said it was too look in on her dog, but she hasn't come back yet." Sara said. Nick ran his fingers through his hair. Morgan decided then that Amanda had to be the killer. Then she realized someone else had left, too.

"Hey, guys? What time was Greg supposed to be back?" Morgan asked. Sara and Nick looked at each other and then at their phones to see what time it was.

"He was supposed to be back half an hour ago…" Sara trailed off.

"I'll call him." Nick said, pulling out his phone. He dialed the number and they waited anxiously. Morgan's heart was pounding wildly in her chest.

"It went to voicemail. Crap…" Nick said.

"You can track it, though, can't you? And Amanda's phone, too because they're issued by the lab." Morgan pointed out.

"Yeah… yeah!" Sara said. Catherine called Brass and Detective Crawford to let them know what was happening and where the evidence was pointing.

"We're tracking them down through the GPS on their phones." She said.

"Hey, did anyone bother to check the parking garage?" Sara asked. Morgan and Nick shook their heads.

"I'll go." Nick said, running towards the parking structure outside. While waiting for Nick to return, Catherine pulled up a map of Vegas with a glowing dot on it. D.B. returned and they filled him in. He let them know that Ecklie would be arriving soon, along with Brass and Crawford.

"Greg is on the move along highway 215. Based on his speed, he's in a car. I couldn't get Amanda's location, I guess she turned her phone off." Catherine said.

"Okay, but do we know he's in danger?" D.B. asked. Morgan's phone beeped and she checked the message from Nick.

"Yes, Greg's in danger!" She said, showing them the picture Nick sent. It was Greg's car, still parked in the lot, with a blood pool next to the driver's side door. D.B. studied the image and then studied them.

"Let's go get him."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** **There is one more chapter after this one, so the story is almost finished…**

Chapter 8

The gun clicked. No bullet. Nothing. He hadn't been lying, the gun wasn't loaded. At least now he knew that it wasn't a threat. The man lunged at him and swung his fist, punching Greg in the jaw. He stumbled back, but maintained his footing. He still had the gun in his hand, so he lifted his arm and brought the butt of the gun down onto the side of the man's head.

He got in three strong hits before the guy sucker punched him in the gut, winding him. He didn't want to let go of the gun because he might have bullets on him, somewhere, and he didn't want to give him the chance to load it. So instead he jammed the chamber and threw it aside, making it useless.

"I don't even know you, man. You could just stop this right now and you wouldn't get into trouble." Greg said, stalling so he could catch his breath.

"Fat chance of that." The man replied, swinging at him again. Greg ducked, the blow missing him by centimeters. He jumped up, his hand balled into a fist. His aim was perfect; the man's head jerked back when Greg landed an uppercut to his jaw. The man fell back and slammed into the side of the van.

"Huh, you're tougher than you look." He said, massaging his jawline. He swung at Greg again, this time, connecting with the side of his face. Pain ripped through his skull again and Greg had to blink away the stars. Greg leaped onto him and punched him, over and over. The man punched back and they fell to the ground, rolling around and slugging each other.

Sweat and blood sprayed the walls of the van, but Greg barely noticed. He just swung his fists as hard as he could, connecting with as many places as he could find. The other guy was doing the same, and Greg could feel the impacts on his ribs, head and face. He felt blood pour from his nose and mouth, but the other guy bled just as much.

The guy grabbed him and slammed him into the chair. Greg yelled out in pain. He didn't know if anything broke, but his wrist throbbed and his eye was swelling shut already. So, he mustered up the rest of his strength and punched the man square in the face. He heard a sickening crack and the man let out a pained roar, clutching his face. Blood poured like a fountain down his chest and through his fingers. He could tell by the amount of blood that he'd broken the man's nose.

"You… you bastard!" He yelled. The van came to a very sudden stop and Greg froze. He heard someone walking to the back.

"You're in for it now!" The other man said, walking to the door. It opened and Greg squinted in the sudden light. When his eyes came back into focus, he couldn't believe what he saw.

Amanda. Holding a gun and smiling at him with that same dangerous smile that Irina had.

"Gotten into a little trouble, I see. Don't worry. It'll all be over soon." She said.

~XXXXX~

Morgan rode with Nick and Detective Crawford as they raced to track Greg down. They followed Captain Brass and Catherine in front of them, who followed Ecklie and D.B in the lead car.

"I can't believe we didn't put it together sooner. Of course!" Nick said, punching the side of the door.

"There's no point in worrying about that now, we just need to hope we get to her before she… does to Greg what she's done to the others." Morgan said. She didn't even want to think about it. She and Greg spent so much time dancing around one another lately that if something happened to him and she didn't get a chance to be honest about what she felt, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself.

"You're right, you're right." Nick said softly as they sped down the highway, sirens blaring.

"You're awfully calm." Nick said to her. She didn't feel calm at all. In fact, she wanted to find Amanda and beat her face in. Or should she call her Anastasia? She didn't even know.

"I don't feel it." She admitted. Nick nodded. "When you were in that helicopter crash and Greg found out that Samantha lied to us about her involvement with the gang, he went in there and screamed at her. Called her a bitch and tried to punch her. Your dad held him back. He kicked a chair at her instead."

Morgan stared at Nick, open mouthed. "Are you kidding?" Morgan had never seen Greg lose his temper before; he always seemed to keep it together, even when she and other's couldn't. It was one of the things she admired about him.

"No. I'm surprised your dad never told you that story. Greg was so mad at her. He threatened her, told her if anything happened to you, he'd make her wish she was dead." Morgan couldn't believe she'd gone this long without knowing this.

"I… didn't know." She murmured.

Nick looked surprised. "Wow… I just assumed that your dad told you about it." Morgan shook her head, bouncing her leg up and down restlessly.

"We're catching up! Greg's phone is stopped at a power station just outside of town. The one where Irina dumped her victims." Detective Crawford said. Morgan looked down at her gun, holstered at her side. She was ready.

~XXXXX~

"Get into the chair." She snarled. Greg stared at her. Seeing that Mark didn't have his gun, she grimaced.

"This gun _is_ loaded, so get in the chair!" She yelled. He spat blood out of his mouth and onto the floor in front of her. It splattered up onto her bare legs. She wore a dress that reminded him of Irina.

"Don't make me shoot you." She chambered a round and glared at him. Greg backed up slowly towards the chair and sat down in it.

"Good. Mark, remove his shirt and restrain him." Amanda ordered. Mark did as he was told, wheezing the whole way through his broken nose.

"What happened to your face?" Amanda demanded of him as he removed Greg's shirt and strapped the restraint around his chest.

"This bastard broke my nose." Mark said, punching Greg in the gut for a good measure. Greg hocked a wad of bloody spit into his eye and grinned at him. Mark lifted a fist and punched him again in the side of head. Greg blinked furiously. His ears were ringing and his head pounded.

Mark wiped the bloody spit from his face. Amanda walked towards him, holstering her gun now that he was in place.

"Hmm, you're deceptive, you know that?" She said, running her fingernails over his chest. He clamped his mouth shut. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing how disgusted he was by her touch. He could taste more blood in his mouth; a tooth had come loose.

"I mean look at you. You look fairly thin, so there's no way to know what's under the shirt in the office, but… damn. You have _very_ nice muscles." She moved her hands all over him. He wanted to spit at her too, but she had a loaded gun, so forced himself not too. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She smelled like peaches, too and his stomach shuddered.

"Why are you doing this? None of my ancestors were involved with yours. They were in Norway." Greg said.

"Well, you see, you ruined my little plan. I tried to flirt with you, get you to notice me. If you'd just given me what I wanted, this could have been avoided, but no. You couldn't keep your stupid little eyes in your head." She slapped him across the face. Blood dribbled out of his mouth and he was sure she'd knocked the tooth completely loose. He could feel it moving around in the back of his mouth.

He coughed, stars sparkling at the corners of his vision. He held the tooth in his mouth, not wanting to choke on it or swallow it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, like I didn't notice?" She demanded. "Every time that stupid Morgan Brody walked by, you couldn't take your eyes off of her! You two are like stupid little twelve year olds, making eyes at each other but not knowing what to _do_. So I put myself out there, waiting for you to pick the delicious fruit I was offering. What did I get for my troubles? Pats on the back and sympathy smiles. That's IT!" She slapped him again. Greg blinked furiously. He didn't know how many times he'd been hit in the head, but he knew that this many blows couldn't be good. Even if she'd unstrapped him, he didn't think he'd make it far. The floor seemed to move underneath him.

"So this is just because I wouldn't show you affection?" He asked.

"No, of course not. I'd run out of victims, you see, so I needed one final person. A cherry on top, so to speak. A crowning glory. What better than the lead CSI investigating the previous case?" Amanda said, laughing. Mark was hooking up the chair to the generator the entire time they spoke. Greg knew that keeping her talking was the only way to stay alive at this point.

"Are you even really a CSI?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes. "Is this the part where the villain conveniently explains her whole plan to the helpless victim before she kills him? Just so that he knows? Of course it isn't!" She slapped him again.

"Mark!" She yelled. "Are you finished?"

"Yes, it's hooked up. God, I can barely breathe!" He wheezed, glaring at Greg. His nose was very crooked.

"Suck it up. We have bigger fish to fry." She laughed hysterically at her own pun.

Greg thrashed around in the chair. He didn't see any way out of this. If Amanda could see the way he looked at Morgan and knew how he felt, he wondered who else could see it. _It doesn't matter now. I won't ever get to tell her how I feel._ He wriggled his fingers through the restraints, moving them around to loosen them, ignoring the blood streaming into his eyes.

"Now, perhaps one kiss before we part? Yes." She stepped forward and smiled at him. Mark had strapped his head into the harness, so his urge to head butt her in the face had to go unfulfilled. Amanda leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his. He took his opportunity.

~XXXXX~

"Go! Go, go, go!" They drove up and found the van, its back doors open. Officer's piled out of their cars and pulled their guns, pointing them at the van. They knew Amanda heard them, but she didn't turn around.

Morgan, Nick and Detective Crawford pulled up behind the line of officers. They were all wearing bullet proof vests and had their guns drawn. They walked up to the front of the line of cops, where D.B., Catherine and Brass stood, their guns also drawn.

Morgan moved to make sure she could see inside the van. She could see Amanda's back, she was facing the chair and another man stood beside her, his back also to the police. They heard a high pitched shriek come from the van and Amanda turned around, holding her mouth with one hand and the gun with the other.

"Amanda Bennet… drop your weapon." Captain Brass ordered. She uncovered her mouth to reveal a bloody, swollen lip.

"That bastard _bit_ me when I kissed him. Look!" She shrieked, pointing at her mouth. Morgan gasped when she saw Greg. He was strapped into the chair, his arms, legs and head restrained. He had blood running down his face and the side of his head. She could see blood in his mouth from here, but he was grinning, so he looked ghastly and terrifying. Whoever the other man was, Morgan could tell by looking at him that he and Greg had been in a fight. He was just as bloody, but his nose was clearly broken.

"Amanda Bennet, put down the gun!" Captain Brass repeated. "Put the gun down and put your hands up and we can fix this." The cops had clear orders to shoot only when directed, since she stood in front of Greg. If she pointed her gun at them, and they fired on her, they might hit Greg in the crossfire and that was something everyone wanted to avoid.

"No. No we can't. My family didn't deserve what happened to them and now the families of the people who decided MONEY was more important than a human LIFE will know the pain of losing a loved one. That's what this is about." She yelled. She didn't point the gun at the police, she held it pointed at Greg the entire time.

"Mark… I hope you're ready to push that button. I wanna see some sparks fly!" Amanda said. The other man had a control interface in his hands.

"He's going to electrocute Greg!" Morgan exclaimed.

"Greg isn't involved in what happened to your family. He's got nothing to do with that, so why don't you let him go and we can talk about this." Brass said. Morgan locked eyes with Greg. He smiled at her through all that blood. She didn't understand how he could smile at a time like this.

"It's because I wouldn't flirt with her!" Greg yelled from the chair. Amanda didn't turn to look at him, she simply scowled at the officers.

"Shut up."

"Go on, tell them. You're mad that I wouldn't show you any attention. After all, your sister got plenty of it from me, didn't she? You just wanted a bit, too." Greg taunted. "Kind of childish, don't you think? Sibling rivalry, is that what this is?"

"SHUT UP!" She shrieked. Greg laughed. _Laughed._ Morgan wondered if he was experiencing some type of head injury because this wasn't a good time to laugh at all.

"Mark, just do it!"

Mark slammed his hand down onto the controller of the chair and crackle of electricity filled the air.

"NO!"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: And now for the final chapter… I hope you enjoy it! I will be posting another Greg/Morgan fic quite soon.**

Chapter 9

Morgan reacted before everyone else. Mark slammed his hand down on the controller and she lifted her gun. She had a clear shot and no one was in the way. She took it.

Mark's hand slid from the controller as he collapsed in slow motion. Amanda started screaming and pointed her gun at the cops, but Morgan charged forward and shot her, right between the eyes. Amanda's voice died in her throat and she fell with an ungraceful thump onto the ground. No one else had gotten a shot off. The cops all turned to stare at Morgan.

"Morgan! What the hell are you doing?" Ecklie yelled. Flabbergasted, she looked around. She'd just killed two people. The electricity in the chair was active, but Greg hadn't been electrocuted.

"It had to have been a malfunction of the wiring, it's a miracle." D.B. said, grabbing the controller and pushing another button. The sound of the electricity stopped.

Her dad ran up to her as the cops holstered their guns. "Morgan… what on earth possessed you to do such a thing?" Brass approached her and was listening, but not speaking.

"I had a shot, so I took it." She looked down at her hands. They weren't shaking, like they had the other time, when she'd shot the poker player's daughter. They were steady.

"It was a good shoot, Ecklie. You did a good job, Brody." Brass said, patting her on the back. Even though everyone told her it was a good shoot, she had to give up her gun pending an internal investigation. D.B. told her to take 'some time' while they cleared her.

"Maybe use some of that free time to make sure boyfriend Greg is doing all right, yes?" D.B. asked. She smiled and then looked around for Greg. Paramedics had gone into the van to get him out. Nick and Catherine appeared at her side.

"That… was unexpected." Catherine said.

"Is Greg okay, can we see him?" Morgan asked. They all looked to see Greg climbing out of the van of his own accord, albeit missing a shirt. Catherine, D.B., Ecklie and Brass went to take care of the particulars involving the scene. Morgan and Nick went to Greg as the paramedics checked him.

"Greggo, man, you look pretty bad." Nick said. Greg spit out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. He held the tooth in his hand and Nick shook his head and chuckled. Morgan stared in fascination at Greg's bare chest. He was more muscular than he let on and she didn't even mind the blood spatter. The paramedic examined his wounds.

"It looks worse than it is." The paramedic said. "Head wounds always do. He's got a concussion, so we'll need to do some scans. He'll need stitches for his head, and probably a splint for the arm, but other than that, he seems fine. I don't think the tooth is salvageable, but you could put it in some milk and ask."

Greg blinked slowly at them and smiled. "I broke Mark's nose. He was angry." He said. Nick laughed and gave Greg a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"I'm impressed man, you messed him up. You bit Amanda?"

"Yeah. She tried to kiss me, what was I supposed to do? I was tied down, so I bit her." Greg said. The paramedic ushered him into the ambulance. "Is anyone coming with him?" He asked.

"I will." Morgan volunteered. "I have some time on my hands anyway, right?"

~XXXXX~

Morgan sat with Greg as he got a CT scan and an MRI. At one point, he turned to look at something and she saw his back. Angry burn scars looked like claws across his back, with smaller white scars scattered throughout. She reached out and touched them without thinking and Greg flinched, turning to look back at her.

"Greg… what happened?"

He smiled slowly. "Lab explosion more than ten years ago."

She stared at him incredulously. "A lab explosion?"

"Yeah. It launched me through a plate glass window and into a wall. Sara was hurt too, but not as bad." Morgan was stunned. "Why didn't I know this about you?" It seemed as if she was learning all sorts of things about Greg that she never knew in just the last day or two.

He shrugged. "I don't like talking about it much. It took me a long time to get over it and I didn't want Catherine to feel bad. The investigation found that it was her fault."

Morgan thought about it for along time. "You've… survived a lot, haven't you?" She said.

Greg smiled. It was a little unnerving, since he still had blood in his mouth and on his teeth. "It'll take more than an electric chair to kill me." He said.

They cleaned him up, stitched him up and gave him anti-inflammatories for the swelling. They hadn't really had a chance to be alone, since nurses were coming in and out of the room. Greg still didn't have a shirt.

"Do you want a hospital gown?" One of the nurses asked.

"No thanks, I'm okay." He said. They gave him ice packs he could put into the freezer and reuse along with a long set of instructions about what he could and could not do.

"I'm taking you home." Morgan insisted. Greg was given a shirt from the lost and found before he was discharged. They hailed a cab and took it back to the crime lab so that Morgan could get her car. They both got in.

"Do you want me to take you to your place or should I take you to mine?" She asked. Greg blinked drowsily at her. He was tired and the pain medicine they'd given him made his thoughts slow.

"My place." Greg said. He gave her the address and she drove him there. He lived on the third floor of his complex, but since there was an elevator, she didn't have to worry about helping him climb three flights of stairs. They got to the door and he fumbled with the lock.

"Uhh, it's hard to see, could you do it?"

Morgan unlocked his door and switched on the light. The first thing she noticed was that it was clean and organized. Greg's taste in décor was a surprising mix of antiques and contemporary items and she immediately liked it before realizing she'd never been inside of his apartment before.

"Morgan, you don't have to stay if you don't want to. I mean, I know I asked you too, but if you need to get home, that's fine." Greg said, standing in the middle of the kitchen. Morgan stared at him. His left eye was swollen shut and purple, he had a gash on the back of his head from where he was struck in the garage, his chest and ribs were turning purple in the spots where he'd been punched, and the doctor had wrapped his wrist because he sprained it in the struggle. He wasn't going to complain about how much it hurt, but she knew it did. He'd go on, acting as though everything was just fine.

"I don't need to be anywhere but here, helping you. Neither one of us allowed back at work for at least two days, so… why not spend that time together? Besides, there's a long list of things you aren't allowed to do and I'm here to help." Morgan said. She hoped Greg would say yes.

"You want to spend two days with me?"

"Of course I do!" Morgan said. "Now, I know you're hungry, do you have anything edible?" She opened the refrigerator and Greg chuckled.

"Okay, two days of Morgan helping. I bet I can handle it." He said. She smiled excitedly and then looked into the fridge.

"Nothing edible. I don't have that." He said. She sighed.

"What time is it?" Greg asked, looking around.

"Almost midnight." Morgan said.

"I could go for some pancakes." Greg said.

"Pancakes? At midnight"

"Yeah, we could go to that diner. Midnight's the perfect time for pancakes." Greg said. Morgan laughed, she couldn't help it.

"I agree, midnight is the perfect time for pancakes. I could make them myself if you have the stuff, we don't need to go to the diner." She said, pulling out flour, eggs and other ingredients.

"No, no… you don't have too…" He started to say, trying to put the ingredients back.

"Too late! You are going to help me make these and then you are going to bed."

Greg nodded obediently. "Yes, ma'am." He said.

Morgan had Greg mix the pancake batter together with his good hand before she had him sit off to the side while she made them. She flipped the finished ones onto a large plate. She made a stack of eight pancakes by the time she was finished.

Greg grabbed some butter and syrup and they both sat at his table and ate pancakes and drank orange juice.

"Thank you for this." He said quietly after finishing his plate. Morgan swallowed her last bite and smiled.

"You're going to go to bed now. I'm going to run home and get some of my things and be back okay?" Greg nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Greg."

"Goodnight, Morgan."

~XXXXX~

The next morning, the only thing Greg felt was pain, splitting his brain into pieces.

"Ugghhhh!" He clutched his head and curled up into his bedsheets, squeezing his eyes shut. The room wasn't brightly lit, in fact, someone had made sure to draw the curtains closed and shut out the light, and so he knew it wasn't that.

He switched on the lamp and tried to get up, but the spinning made it impossible. He collapsed back onto the bed, moaning in pain again.

"Greg? Can I come in?" Morgan asked urgently. She knocked on the door. Greg blinked and looked at his bedroom door. It was unlocked.

"Yes!" He gasped. He closed his eyes again and curled up. Morgan suddenly appeared by his side, holding one of the ice packs from last night and some medicine in her hand.

"Here." She pressed it to his head, right where it throbbed. She gave him the pill and he took it, guzzling the water she held for him. He sighed, some of the tension sliding out of his shoulders. He could hear his own labored breathing.

"Can I try something that might help?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, anything." Greg replied. She shifted around and climbed into the bed. She moved him so that she had his head cradled in her lap, with the ice pack pressed against the knot in the back. She took her hands and moved them slowly, rhythmically over his temples and scalp.

"Oh… God." Greg mumbled. His pain subsided almost instantly. For a while, he just laid there, feeling relaxed and almost pleasant. He blinked and opened his eyes, looking around. Then he realized that he was laying in his bed, wearing nothing but his boxers, with Morgan cradling his head in her lap. She was wearing a pair of shorts and baggy gray t-shirt with Bob Marley on the front, which he guess were her pajamas. Greg felt a mild sense of panic.

"Morgan?"

"Hmm?"

Greg knew this was probably the worst time for this, but he didn't know if he could keep pretending as though there was nothing going on between them. After all, here she was, holding his head in her lap and massaging it to make him feel better. Amanda's words echoed in his head. Did they really look like two lovesick twelve year olds when they were together?

"What do you think of me, I mean really?" Greg asked. Morgan stopped massaging his scalp for a moment.

"What do you mean, what do I think of you? I think you're great. I've told you what I think of you." Greg sighed. He knew that, of course, but he just wanted her to reaffirm it.

"What do you think of me, Mr. Sanders?" Morgan asked. His brain felt slow, so he just said what came to his mind first.

"I think you're… beautiful. Smart, brave, funny. You saved my life. I think you're everything, you're just everything." Greg said. Morgan felt a rush of warmth come to her face.

"Thank you." They were silent for a while and she went back to massaging his scalp.

"Feeling better?" She asked, pausing in her massage.

"Yes, much better." He agreed. He sat up slowly and looked at her. She tucked her hair behind her ear.

"You have… a nice bedroom. I like the style of everything." Morgan said, looking around.

"Morgan, do you want to go on a date with me?" He blurted. _Damn, I wanted it to sound better than that!_ He thought. Her eyes went wide.

"What about… the team?" She asked slowly. Greg sighed.

"I'm tired of basing my decisions on how they'll effect people other than me. If you don't want to go, I understand." Greg was feeling more stupid by the minute. Why did he think she liked him as anything more than a friend?

"Greg… of _course_ I'll go on a date with you!" She leaned over and planted the gentlest of kisses against his temple, her soft hair brushing against his face. He caught that scent of oranges, vanilla and jasmine again.

"You will?"

"Yes. I will go on a date with you. This doesn't count as a date, though. In case you were wondering."

"Morgan?"

"Hmm?"

"Come here." Greg murmured. She moved closer and he moved his hands up to her face, pulling it close to his.

"I fantasized about you while kissing Irina." He hissed in her ear, giving her chills.

"I pretended to be Irina when you kissed her to make myself feel better." She replied. They both giggled.

"Now we don't have to pretend." Greg said, cupping her face in his hands and pressing his mouth softly onto hers.


End file.
